Billy the Kid
by Fallenthroughtherabbithole
Summary: John has put up with a lot from Sherlock, from carrying out experiments with dangerous chemicals in his flat to finding a decomposing head in his fridge, but one thing he never expected to deal with was a baby.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello you lovely people, this is my first published Fanfic so please be kind! Reviews are very much appreciated.**

**Twitter: SophieButternut**

**Tumblr: Same as my user name (Fallenthroughtherabbithole) so folloooooow me! :)**

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'Oh for God's sake, Will you shut him up!' Lestrade groaned at John in exasperation.

For once he wasn't talking about the tall, dark haired consulting detective who at this point was also seemingly on the verge of pulling his own hair out in frustration. 'I'm doing my best!' John said defensively whilst cradling a small baby boy in his strong hands. The little boy (John had decided in his head to name him Billy, he had absolutely no idea why) was currently, and had been for the last 3 hours, positively red in the face from screaming at the top of his lungs and no-one had any idea why. It was driving all three of them slowly insane.

'I am the single-most clever man in this country, if not the world and I still cannot fathom how a thing that size could make that big a noise' Sherlock complained. 'Look if it's bothering you that much then you can take him!' John retorted and pushed the infant in Sherlock's general direction, raising his eyebrow in a challenge. Sherlock just waved his hand dismissively 'Oh no John, out of everyone currently in this room you, as a doctor, have the most potential and experience for providing this child with the best care, at least until social services get here' he explained. John would've almost taken that at a compliment if it hadn't been so logically and scientifically put. He sighed and sat back in the chair, cradling the boy closer to his chest and started smiling and cooing and tickling him and…just anything to get him to stop! His mind went back to how he had ended up in this situation.

Sherlock and John had been having breakfast just 4 hours ago when he heard Sherlock's phone start buzzing. 'Your phones ringing' said John, who was by now more than aware at how wrapped up in his own head Sherlock could get. Sherlock was simply staring at the wall above John's head with his hands interlinked beneath his chin, elbows resting on the table. He also seemed to be muttering to himself about some glow in dark rabbit? Bizarre as that sounds John actually barely registered that next to the phone that had stopped ringing, and then started up again. 'Are you going to get that? Someone clearly wants to get hold of you' John said again, attempting to break into Sherlock's 'mind palace' as he called it. Used to this behaviour, when he got no response from Sherlock again, he simply went 'Right, I'll get it then shall I?' and went to go pick up the phone from the small coffee table where it was still ringing. 'Hello Lestrade, its John here, Sherlock's a bit preoccupied I'm afraid' He answered seeing the name flashing up on the phone.

'Is he there though?' Lestrade replied 'I need him down here ASAP, we have a case involving a missing baby and we think it may be in this building somewhere so obviously this is an emergency' John pondered this for a moment, he always hated it when kids get mixed up in the stuff him and Sherlock deal with, especially as young as the one they would soon be looking for. 'Yes he is we'll be there soon. What's the address?' He asked. 'Not far from where you are, but you'll probably want to get a taxi, its 100 New Croft Avenue' Lestrade said 'See you soon' he finished then hung up. John shook his head, that wasn't a particularly nice neighbourhood and although he'd been stuck in many dangerous situations with Sherlock before he was still very sensible. There was a child involved though he resigned and then turned. 'What child?' Sherlock asked suddenly making John realise he'd had that mini debate with himself out loud. 'No idea who exactly, but it's a baby and it's missing, you need to find it' John clarified yanking Sherlock away from his untouched breakfast


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again Here's an update for you, Hope you like it. Let me know!**

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They flagged down a cab, gave the cabbie the address and then settled in for the short ride. It was relatively silent as Sherlock was still half lost in his thoughts. Not that that gave John himself any time to think, it was such a short ride. Before he knew it the cabbie was stopping and saying 'Right we're here' John politely thanked the driver and handed him the tenner. Sherlock was already walking into the building, no doubt this would be easy for him but it didn't make it any less important, every minute they wasted the baby could be trapped somewhere, starving, dehydrated or worse. John shuddered at the thought and silently prayed they found the baby alive.

When John walked in Lestrade was already in deep conversation with Sherlock, filling him in on any little detail that could be important. He walked over to Sally (he had always gotten along better with her than Sherlock did) and asked what was actually happening. 'Well there was a murder a few blocks away, a family of 3, only on their records there was another…the baby boy was missing' Donovan explained. 'So we're looking at all the other places where the baby could be, starting here. This was their actual home. We didn't find him in the initial search but someone may have stashed him for safe keeping' John nodded, that did make sense.

The next half hour was spent walking behind Sherlock, double checking any possible hiding space for any sign of the infant. Then, while they were in the mother and fathers bedroom, Sherlock's foot hit a floorboard that gave an almighty creak, immediately followed by a shrill wail. Sherlock almost leaped out of his skin and then bent down to ease up the floorboard. John followed suit so that it would be as smooth as possible, they didn't want to accidently hurt the baby.

Less than a minute later the floorboard came off to reveal a small, now almost tomato coloured from all the screaming, baby wrapped in a tatty blue cardigan. 'That must have been the mothers' John commented. 'Yes, obviously' said Sherlock lifting the baby out of the floor and straight into Johns hands. John lifted up the baby's makeshift blanket and raising his eyebrow said 'Yes, definitely a boy' and he swear he almost saw Sherlock smile.

Lestrade came running in having heard the crying and visibly relaxed once he saw the boy was safe and in John's hands. 'Thank God!' he exclaimed leaning against the door and running his hands through his hair. 'Yes, yes, we found the baby but the more important question now is who stashed the baby there and why?' Sherlock leapt up and started pacing, an annoying habit of his. 'Slow down Sherlock, we've got to get this boy safe' Lestrade said looking almost amused. Sherlock narrowed his eyes in confusion. 'We need to get social services here, right away' John explained 'and you are not leaving me here alone with him to go off gallivanting around the city trying to track down their killer, you'll get yourself into trouble, you need me with you' he finished trying to sound as firm as possible. Sherlock grumbled something about him not being the one that needed a baby-sitter but John knew he'd won and grinned triumphantly, he knew Sherlock always preferred his company to being on his own.

Lestrade pulled out his phone and dialled a number 'Hi Katy, its Greg…Yeah I'm afraid we're going to need your people to get down here pronto, we've got a recently orphaned baby' He explained. He gave the mysterious Katy their address and then sat down on the floor. John raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. He'd never heard Greg talk about anyone called Katy before and if he knew her professionally he'd have used last names. Greg just avoided his gaze and stared very pointedly at the window but John could swear he'd gone a shade pinker. He grinned to himself and then focused back on the little bundle still in his arms.

'How long to I have to wait here?' Sherlock demanded. 'They said they'd be here in about 4 hours' answered Lestrade. '4 hours!' exclaimed John, that was awfully long time to baby-sit. 'Yeah well there are other more urgent cases at the moment and Katy trusts me so that's as soon as they can do realistically' Lestrade explained 'Besides it's not that long' he defended. John just sighed and moved carefully over to a vacant chair to settle down and try to calm down the boy who had just started crying again. Sherlock groaned but sat down on the floor next to Lestrade as they resigned themselves to 4 hours of torture (on the ears at least). John smiled, next to some of Sherlock's violin playing, particularly when he was in an aggressive or restless mood, he'd take 4 hours of this any day.


End file.
